But I Wanted Pizza, not Pasta!

The reason I began playing a hunter was for the companions. The pals, the friends, the pets. I’m sure any other hunter loves pets, otherwise they’d be playing a Mage.Just so everyone knows, Warlock pets don’t count. They’re absolute tools. Fluffy or Rex or whoever your pet is, is NOT a tool.

Getting back on track, I’d like to point something out. In the Burning Crusade, pets were typically a cat, ravager, or raptor. Possibly a windserpent. Those were the only viable pets in raids. In PvP, we also had the option of scorpids. HOO-RAY. Scorpids get my blood pumping about as much as SPOREBATS do. At the very least, scorpids are not very attractive, and everyone can agree with that.

The main point I’m getting across here is that our pet options were lame. You could tame something else, but it wasn’t nearly as good or as effective for what was needed; the magical 3 syllable word, Dee Pee eSs.Yes, make your jokes now. I’m not the only one that has spelled it out this way.

Scorpids (YAWN) being the only exception due to their ability to mask your stings. All you PvP hunters know what I’m saying.

Then patch 3.0 hit us, and pets got Love. New trees, talents, abilities, streamlining… all of it. Including the anihilation of caster pets! With the exception of resilience, pets got mostly everything they needed and didn’t have before.

However, I have noticed a small problem. Small, but nonetheless irritating.

High end hunters are still only using 4-5 different pets. Cats, Devilsaurs, Gorillas, Spirit Beasts and Scorpids. What is it with those creepy buggers anyway?

Thing is, this distresses me. High end hunters know what they’re doing, more often than not, and they will notice when some pets are better than others. I’m talking about people like Big Red Kitty. They know their stuff.

And flat out, people have said that certain pets are not only better, but some also just SUCK. Sporebats are known to be mentioned here. Sporebats aren’t a big deal, but it’s not just them on the “suck” list.

Why does this annoy me? Because I’m being pigeonholed. Ye olde english for I’m being force fed pasta instead of being able to eat my pizza if I wish.

I love wolves. They aren’t on the “Best” pet list. So now everyone will assume that I can’t play, and that I must be a huntard for having one. This makes me sad.

In raids, which I do plan on running at least everyone once in awhile, it will be expected that I bring a Cat or Devilsaur, if I’m specced to have one. For tanking, which we can do now, I will be expected to bring a gorilla. And for PvP, I better have a scorpid, or I get called a Newb and will never get the cool PvP gear.

This is a sad thing, because I thought we had moved away from the idea that some pets are better than others, and others just won’t cut it.

Granted, we can get away with having different pets, but you are NOT going to tank with a boar, you will NOT raid with a spider, and chances are that PvP with anything other than a tenacity pet will be considered foolish.

I will continue to use Link, my wolf, and Radix my cat. I will not have a Scorpid, Devilsaur, or gorilla because I just don’t like those pets. However, this means my performance as a hunter in raids and such will be less than that of another hunter with those pets.

I don’t think this is a good thing. The pigeonholing of pets is something to be fought against because it brings us right back to where we started: with 4 damn pets, and anythign else was vanity.

12 responses to “But I Wanted Pizza, not Pasta!”

Maybe, but I don’t think it will change its placement for hunters without the Beast Mastery talent. For those WITH the talent, it looks like it’s going to be T-Rexes and Spirit Beasts (if ya have one).

Hi, welcome to my ‘blogs I read’ list. I applaud anyone who actually gives this a go, as I truly enjoy reading them. Perhaps someday I will be brave enough to try it myself.

I spent most of my leveling time with my turtle..from levels 16 to 59. She still resides in my stable. I had hoped that with the changes the Echoes of Doom patch brought that she would be more useful … and she is, to some extent. But after reading BRK for a couple of weeks, I had to try a gorilladin … well, suffice it to say, I still dislike gorillas, but I cannot deny their ability to keep me out of trouble. Or to keep the enemy distracted WHILE I get into trouble, as the case may be. So, at least while I’m running around questing and farming, the big ugly brute goes along. Unless I’m saving (stealing) Wolvar pups … thunder stomp tends to kill them before I can pick them up. >.<

As far as pets go, I will continue doing what I have been doing so far- I will use the pets I like, because I LIKE them, regardless of whether they are on the ‘list’. My main hunter uses a cat mostly, yes, but that is because the cat is his baby, not because she helps him top the DPS charts. The rest of my hunters have various pets, from moths to chimeras to boars, and they will not change just because they aren’t ‘leet’ enough.

@ Ace
I think the turtle is a very cute pet, and I like them! I don’t own one, but form looking at them, I think they will be perfectly fine Offtanks, as a form as CC.
In 5 mans, where it isn’t really needed, it wont see as much use. But I think that the turtle shield ability would be very useful for such a role.

@ Sarai
I understand what you’re saying! It’s what I’m saying, or what I’m trying to say anyways. I just didn’t like it when cats were among the 3 viable pets for raiding. That bugged me.
I love cats though, the first member of my Pack is Radix, one of the Eversong Woods lynxes. If you love cats, that’s great! I just don’t want hunters to be forced to choose them, or Devilsaurs, or w/e else turns out to be the “best” DPS.

I agree with you about the majority of pets, but I’m not sure why the wolf would be frowned upon in a raid… one more raid-wide buff is always a good thing imo. It may not boost you personally as high on the dps charts, but it helps everyone.

It seems to me there has always been a trade off in WoW. You can try to be the ‘best’ in one specific area (like DPS), or you can be good in several. I usually prefer greater utility over maximum anything.

IE:
My druid is unlikely to top the charts in dps, or be many people’s first choice as a main tank. But he’s often the only one around who can switch roles at the drop of a hat. Healer having trouble, he can fall back and back-up heal. Tank goes down, he can drop a rebirth on him mid-combat. Too much heat to survive in ‘caster’ form long enough to rebirth, np switch to tank and off-tank until things cool down.

It’s not the most impressive class in one area, but show me another class that can do all that in the same instance.

Hunters have both right now, they can break the dps meters (on single target AND aoe) and throw in pretty good CC, including off tanking.

So far I like most classes for different reasons (hunters being one of my favorites), and they have done a decent job of emphasizing the things that make each class unique. Hopefully they’ll continue the trend.

As for pets, I think a lot of people are still learning how to play some of the more unusual pets out there, hopefully time will see more hunters able to use more of the alternatives effectively.

I agree with everything you said TVR. Hunters are indeed versatile, and that’s something that I believe is our greatest strength as a class. I really do hope that pet variety continues to grow instead of stagnate like it did in TBC, and like what it seems it might be doing now.

As far as why wolves aren’t considered very good, the Ferocious Howl buff doesn’t stack with Battle Shout and Blessing of Might. As such, if you’re in a group with either buff being applied, your wolf is a pet that does less damage. It’s not on the “suck” list, but I have been laughed at before.